Rampton Secure Hospital

Rampton Secure Hospital
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Entrance to Rampton Secure Hospital
Shown in Nottinghamshire
Geography
Location	Rampton, Nottinghamshire, England
Coordinates	53°17′24″N 0°50′11″W / 53.2899°N 0.8365°W / 53.2899; -0.8365Coordinates: 53°17′24″N 0°50′11″W / 53.2899°N 0.8365°W / 53.2899; -0.8365
Organisation
Care system	NHS
Hospital type	Specialist
Services
Emergency department	No
Beds	about 390
Speciality	Psychiatric hospital (secure mental hospital)
History
Founded	1912
Links
Website	nottinghamshirehealthcare.nhs.uk

Rampton Secure Hospital is a high security psychiatric hospital near the village of Woodbeck between Retford and Rampton in Nottinghamshire, England. It is one of only three high security psychiatric hospitals in England, alongside Ashworth Hospital near Liverpool and Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire. It is managed by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

History

Rampton Hospital, which was designed by Francis William Troup,^[1] was built on what until then was a large open common known as "Rampton Field" as an overflow facility for Broadmoor Hospital and opened in 1912.^[2]

Staff were required to live on-site and estate cottages for their use were built in the 1920s and 1930s.^[1] An outdoor arena, an indoor gymnasium and a swimming pool were added in the 1960s.^[1]

On 22 May 1979, Yorkshire Television broadcast an exposé programme titled Rampton, The Secret Hospital, showing the routinely severe mistreatment of Rampton patients by staff. A groundbreaking look inside the hitherto secret world of a 'special hospital', it was cited in a "top ten" of television programmes which occasioned intense public debate and engendered far-reaching effects upon its subject area,^[3] and it was awarded an International Emmy.^[4]

A follow-up television broadcast a few weeks later reported that its immediate effect within the hospital had so far amounted to a few scapegoat prosecutions while the status quo had continued largely as before, except that no staff member could trust another not to be a whistle-blower. An inquiry under Sir John Boynton was set up; the report in 1980 was critical of the hospital's management structure making a total of 205 recommendations.^[5]

In February 2000, the hospital was awarded a Charter Mark award. This government scheme was designed to both reward excellence and encourage constant quality improvement. The scheme laid emphasis on the quality of service provided to users including visitors and the general public.^[1]

In April 2001, the hospital, which had previously been administer by the Home Office, became managed by the new Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, a provider of mental health services in the local area.^[1]

In May 2008, a group of patients lost their High Court battle seeking to overturn the rule banning patients from smoking within the hospital.^[6]

The Mike Harris Centre, a new training building named after the consultant forensic psychiatrist who led the forensic division of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, opened in January 2011.^[7] Other major developments have included the David Wilson Unit, for National High Secure Learning Disability Services, which opened in July 2011.^[8]

Services

Rampton Hospital houses about 400 patients who have been detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 under the criteria of "mental disorder" (any disorder or disability of mind).^[2] It has a staff of about 2,000 and provides the national services for patients with a learning disability, women and deaf men requiring high security care. It also provides services for men suffering from mental illness and personality disorders. The hospital has an 'Enhanced Personality Disorder' unit originally opened in 2004 as part of a national pilot for 'Dangerous and Severe Personality Disordered' men.^[9]

Notable patients

• Beverley Allitt, who killed four children and attacked nine others when working as a nurse at a Lincolnshire hospital in 1991.^[10][11]
• Ian Ball, who attempted to kidnap Princess Anne in 1974.^[12]
• Peter Bryan, who murdered three people in London between 1993 and 2004, eating parts of their bodies after killing them.^[13]
• Stephen Shaun Griffiths, a serial killer known as the 'Crossbow Cannibal'.^[14]
• Ian Huntley, who murdered two 10-year-old girls at Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002, was sectioned at the hospital for nearly two months after his arrest, but transferred to a mainstream prison on remand after being declared fit to stand trial.^[15]
• Bruce Lee, who in 1981 admitted killing a total of 26 people in a string of arson attacks.^[16]
• Thomas McDowell, who in 2002 murdered German rabbi Andreas Hinz in North London.^[17]
• Mark Rowntree, who in 1976 admitted murdering four people on a killing spree in West Yorkshire.^[18]
• Charles Salvador, who was jailed for crimes including armed robbery and who has since taken inmates and prison staff hostage.^[19]

See also

• Carstairs State Hospital, the equivalent facility for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

References

External links

• Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Rampton Secure Hospital
• Google Earth view from above
• Google Earth ground view of entrance
• Rampton Secure Hospital records held at Nottinghamshire Archives